Cole Webley

The film has been sold! Thanks everyone.

I have about 2,800 ft. of 5218 left over from a shoot. They are short ends between 200' and 240' loads. Just wrapped this week. Will sale for 10 cents / foot - total $280. Buyer will have to pay for shipping. Let me know if you have any questions! colefilms@gmail.com

I shot Super 35mm 3-Perf on the BL-4 with a set of Zeiss Standard Speed Lenses. I shot it on Kodak 5279. Good point about the spelling of the Rabbit. I think I will capitalize the "R". Thanks for the response!

Just shot another spec ad for a director friend. Shot on the HVX-200 M2 adapter and a set of Nikon lenses. Here are a few screen grabs from some of the color corrected video - this is a compressed version of the video so it might seem a bit soft - but I did push it that way a bit. Let me know if you have any questions - Usually I just flew a 12x12 w/ 1/4 stop Polysilk - then brought in some show card or bead board for fill - w/ a shiny board for a kiss of rim light. Check out the stills! Izze Spec ad stills

Shot well - art direction seemed nice. Concept was interesting - not sure if I like to see a beautiful women do that, but it was kinda funny. Keep up the good work.

This was shot last November but I recently finalized the one CG element in it and the cut - it has been sitting mostly done for quite some time but I can officially say - this is the FINAL CUT. Take a look - if you have any feedback, i'de love to hear it. I am seeking representation as a commercial director/dp so its great to hear what worked and what could have been better. http://www.j-four.com/videos/VW.mov

I just picked up a bunch of film that has been sitting in a basement (not frozen) for the better part of two years. It was purchased in the summer of 2006. The majority of the stock is 5293 EXR 200T. Then a few cans of 5229 Vision 2 Expression 500T and a re-can of 5217 Vision 2 200T. I will be sending them to the lab to get it tested but I was wondering what everyone thought... I know the EXR and 5217 have a better chance b/c of the speed - so I hope they are still good. I may be able to shoot a test too - if its too close for Kodak to call, I know they will say don't shoot it - so it may come down to shooting some tests. Anyways - any thoughts?

I shot this feature last summer, here is an un-official trailer. The title is Dragon Hunter - total genre pic - my first feature. It was a lot of fun, I didn't understand the genre at first because I'm not a dragon fantasy fan but it was interesting to say the least. Worked with a fun director, we did our best with what we had. Shot on Super 35mm - w/ SAG actors for around $70k. There is no dragon in this trailer because the composite work isn't done. Titles and sounds/music are temp., etc. At least you can get an idea of what we did. Like I said, it was a lot of fun. My first feature and hopefully more to come. Let me know what you think. Oh yeah, the footage has only seen a one-light. We are straight to DVD, so we transfered to HD Cam SR, I think the footage here was pulled from the Mini DVs they sent the director to cut from. If you have any questions about production fill free to ask. For the record, the titles are so cheesy - but the director is going to change them.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1XpVzoFGJc

So, the director threw up a un-official trailer for Dragon Hunter. Feel free to check it out online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1XpVzoFGJc This is un-color corrected - just a one light (but I think the director did some FCP coloring for the trailer) oh, and I hope they re-do the titles, they are pretty cheesy. It was a lot of fun to shoot -- we embraced the genre. Check it out. Oh yeah, the Dragon isn't in the trailer b/c the CG hasn't been finished. So, no Dragon in this early version...but it will give you an idea of what we shot w/ our limited budget. Enjoy.

"Assassination of a High School President" I was working for Fuse TV during the Sundace Festival last week and we interviewed Brett Simon, Mischa Barton and Reece Thompson. I was operating a camera for them during the interviews and I was thrilled to hear Brett, Mischa and Reece talk about the film. It was great to hear first hand about the film, as well as through your journals throughout production. Congratulations for your success with the film, David. I look forward to seeing it.

I am getting rid of 550 feet of 7205 - left over of professional shoot last Friday. One re-can and one short-end. Will sale for $100 plus shipping. Brand new. Will ship w/in U.S. Email if interested: colefilms@gmail.com Thanks!

I think if i were lighting this gentleman I would have wrapped the backlight around the front of his face a bit more (making it a key light) and then left the fill where you have it. Just a suggestion. BG looks good - always important to through some light back there (in most cases) to seperate your layers, and actor from other elements. Good luck.

Thanks Rodrigo. I lived in the Dominican Republic for a couple of years - spent some time in Azua, Los Alcarrizos near Santo Domingo, Los Arroyos (in the capital), and San Juan. I loved it. I hope to go back to visit. Great country.

I forgot to mention that I lit this scene with a 4' 4-Bank Kino Flo Tungsten tubes with 2 on. They were right below frame, with the grid on. I wanted this light to be harder and a touch stylized, I think it turned out nice. The rest of the pics were lit with 1ks bouncing off of a 4x4 bead board - pretty simple.

So, I just shot a :30 sec spec ad for an old professor of mine from BYU. He is an Art Center grad and teaches in the Communications department. He teaches the commercial class over there as well. We shot this spec at the BYU's Museum of Art. The concept begins with a bunch of "high society", "posh" patrons standing around waiting for an exhibit of 1920's memorabilia to open. The curator realizes at the last moment that he is missing the last exhibit and he searches franticaly to find something to replace is missing art. He sees a "punk" kid pushing a broom. We see the boy leaving the museum with a wad' of cash and no shoes. The curator smiles over his last exhibit of a pair of Chuck Taylor Converse...Converse Since 1928. I wanted the characters to be lit from below, as if the lighting was similar to an art exhibit which at times is either lit from above top lit, or from below. I lit the characters from below using 1k's shooting into bounce boards. This style of lighting was very flattering - it gave the characters a polished, glamour-like look which seemed to work well with the concept. For one character, the boy who loses his shoes for a few bucks, I left the lighting hard and didn't fill in any of the shadows. I wanted his lighting to be less flattering and to imply his social status in the given situation. By doing so, we were able to excentuate our message of Converse's ability to transcend social status and time. Not only was the common man a believer, but the high society patrons held the shoes as art symbol. I shot 5218, rated at 400 ASA with no filters. I will be transfering at R!OT. The camera was the old Mitchell Mark II with a set of Canon Primes - which all opened to a T 1.4 I shot most of the spot at a T 2 / T 2.8. I edited these photos a bit in iPhoto and Photoshop to try and figure out which way we want to take it in telecine, I won't be able to make the transfer so the director and I were playing with some ideas. Here are some stills from the shoot. The Patrons. The Curator. The curator touching up the exhibits... The Boy.

Today we wrapped production after grabbing a couple of plate shots that we had missed throughout the shoot. We shot the last two weeks with mostly all natural lighting (Day, Ext.) with use of the 12x12 w/ usually the Ultra Bounce, shiny boards, foam core and beadboard, as well as 4x4 frames of Opal and Hampshire. When I didn't want to loose much stop but soften up the natural light I would bring in the Hampshire for the close-ups. I like the softness it adds - I occasionally would use opal as well for the same purpose. We did have some day interior work that I was able to get a 1200w HMI for and a 2ft. 4 bank Kino Flo, those ended up being lifesavers for backlight and texture on the walls, etc. (1200w) and to fill in the shadows a bit with the kino-flo. I would occasionally place a 4x4 frame of hampshire in front of the kino to take the "bite" out of it. I was very pleased with what we were able to get. We had many things go our way on this film. The director and I were forced to re-access how to shoot a scene due to limited time with actors/light, etc. It kept us on our toes. It was a great experience and I hope the film turns out to be a success. Hopefully they will have a trailer up sometime in the next three to four months (straight to DVD release). I will post it when its out.

David. Good luck on your prep. I was wondering...and I am sure it has been different - but how does it usually work with the DP's contract...do you usually get signed on and work a day rate for prep or is that tied into a flat rate for the film, etc. I know in the indy world in Utah we usually get a flat rate for the film and then additional for post, etc. How have you seen it work early in your career and how has that changed? I hope this question is o.k. to ask and of course feel free to not answer if it is too intrusive of a question. Thanks.

Unfortunately we didn't get to have a condor. The highest we could get our Maxi Brute was about 20 feet up. We would have liked to have gotten our light a lot higher, but we couldn't rent one. To move quickly we did a lot of cheating - we would stage our actors against an unlit back drop, shoot part of the scene then shoot another part of the scene with a 5k raking across some of the background so that it would look like a different background - all the while keeping them back-lit or maybe more side-lit, keeping in mind continuity. That's whats nice about shooting out in the forest, a tree is so hard to identify so we tried to shoot close to our lights and limit moving at least our Maxi Brute, we usually only moved it two or three times a night. We are also pretty short handed on crew. We have our keys, our best-boys, and one additional grip and electrician. Like I said, they are working their tails off but it would have been nice to have another couple of hands. So, in answer to your question...we would try and cheat our backgrounds by lighting different areas or letting our background go dark and moving our key around to match the scene. Plus, we aren't really able to get the normal amount of coverage that one would like to get...but, it is what it is. I got the first batch of dailies back ("weeklys") and I am really happy with the results. My gaffer and I are getting together tonight to go over them again and see where we could have improved, etc. Our fire gags seemed to work really well - usually just a 2k with a medium chimera on a flicker box w/ no crate (I feel like fire light spreads everywhere). Today worked out great. We shot a big fight scene. I am shooting 5212 for my day work. I was crazy and shot most of that stuff at a cool 11 or so...on a 50mm, 85mm, and 100mm. By shooting longer lenses it sold the action of the fight better. And, by shooting stopped down, I obviously was cutting my 1st a lot of slack...(he is doing great but pulling has been at times a challange). We were completely hand-held and all over the place. I think that is going to sale the action better as well. -Cole

Chris, It does sound like that, but, no I didn't. We are working with a really in-experienced production staff so I had to work the deals with stock and post work i.e. processing and transfer, etc. Did a little producing I guess...but, oh well, it helped me make connections with some nice people. Another long day today. Mostly bounce and fill - shiny boards and 6x or 12x Ultra bounce...also a lot of bead-board fill. I have been trying to shoot everyone with the light to the backs during our day work. On close ups I have occasionally put a 4x frame of diffusion up...usually Opal. Not much doing otherwise, no lights for our day work...what I would give for an 18k at times!! Oh, well...someday. We did a week of Night Ext. work, about 28 pages and then two weeks of Day Ext. Today we were really rushed at the end of the day. I was able to cheat most of the shots to have a nice rim light but we finally lost our light at about 8:50 or so...didn't finish everything but it was a frustrating day. Actors rides not showing up, props not being on set, and of course long makeup stuff... Who knows if we will finish this film! I am sure we will, I feel like we have only had to compromise our creativity about 1 out of 10 times which is pretty good. We are getting a lot of great stuff, its that 1 out of 10 times that is hard to swallow. Ok, maybe its more like 3 out of 10...I mean its not like we have a crane or tons of lights...but even then sometimes you can get lost in all the toys right? I'll try and post more soon.

Richard. I paid an average of 10 cents a foot for my short-ends. I usually go through the DR Group but I happen to find a better deal. I have gotten 5 cents a foot for short-ends at the DR Group before...those are prices that are hard to turn down when you are on a shoe string budget - and...all the shorts and specs I have shot on 35mm were on short-ends... Hopefully someday when the production has a greater budget I won't have to worry about the short-ends...until then, I can manage. Oh, and yes, there is the girl in this film as well. I just won't bother posting pictures. -Cole

Thanks a lot David. It means a lot coming from someone of your experience and knowledge. I am afraid you are right on about the wardrobe and makeup. It has been challenging for some of us to swallow some of the art and wardrobe/makeup. I suppose we are all at fault though for allowing little things like that to happen. I should be more assertive in my comments about EVERYTHING within the frame....I mean, if we really do direct the photography I suppose we should comment about things like that. I hope to post more photos later. Richard, Yep, we are shooting short-ends (mostly). I do have some 400 ft. loads of 5212 and 5218. I have heard of a number of low budget features shooting on short-ends...I just shot a short on short-ends with the Panavision GII Student Grant package. Everything was fine with the stock. Yes, I wish we could shoot re-cans or new rolls but unfortunately no money for it. They were bought from a professional level short-ends dealer called "Reel Good" out of Hollywood I believe. The one thing I would say is that we have had at least ten rolls that were listed at 250' feet and when they were loaded there was only 190' feet on the rolls. I don't know if that was the production that sold the short-ends to Reel Good or if they were mislabeled later...but if that happens a lot it could add...I hope it was a mistake rather then someone being dishonest. Oh, and about the girl. Well, unfortunately your right. I just didn't post any pictures.

Here are a few stills of the past week of night shoots. Things went pretty well. We have had our challanges but for the most part I am pretty pleased. Everyone in lighting and grip are working really hard and have been great to work with. 2 more weeks of day shoots start on Monday. Our lighting package consisted of a 9-Light Maxi Brute, 2 5ks, 2 2ks, 2 1ks Baby Babies, and 2 Tweenies and a few 200w LTM Peppers. (right before the orcs crash through the door...) His key is a fire light gag using a 2k with a chimera on a flicker box.

Thanks Satsuki. The films budget is only $65,000. I am shooting the film on short ends and it is straight to DVD. We are transfering with Entertainment Post and processing with Deluxe. Camera is through Otto Nemenz. All of the crew have signed backend pay deals, with some of the keys getting points. It worked it pretty well for me, if the film makes any money. They are hoping to get it into Blockbuster, Hollywood Video and of course they will try for Walmart. Anyhow, they are also banking on foreign sales and they will try for the Sci-Fi channel. The executive producer has done a couple of features, his last film was with Jon Heder, Rutger Hauer, and Mila Kunis budget 1.5 million. I don't know if I could have financially taken the risk later in my career but nobody was knocking on my door asking me to shoot a feature and since I just graduated college in April...I still have a little of those student loans that I could live off of for the next month. The first three days have been crazy, dissapointing, exciting, fun, and challanging. It has been a nightmare getting locations tied down. The first day of production we were on this location in Heber, UT setting up when we got a call from the lead actor who said that he "couldn't do the show anymore." His manager had found out that he was doing the show and didn't want him to do it or something... The show is SAG and he must have had some union issues...and why he hadn't told his manager about it...I don't know...anyway we found this out an hour after call time and he was in every scene that we were to shoot that night. Crazy huh? Well, they actually new another local actor that they called and he took the part. So an hour or too after call we were given the go to begin setting up for the scene. Then a guy shows up and says "What are you doing on my land?" Apparently, the locations manager had gotten the wrong permission to be on this land so we were kindly thrown off. We hurried to another location that we had as a backup and were able to eventually shoot three scenes that night. Very insane and rushed. I was o.k. with the first two, however, the last scene of the night was a big 360 degree dolly move. I am worried how it is going to turn out. It was lit o.k. but with so many variables and not enough time to address them all, I just hope it turns out. Its hard with our night work because we only have about 8-9 actual shooting hours. I was trying to avoid shooting day for night but we may have to next week. So far we are only 2 scenes behind in our night work. That's actually very encouraging considering our many challanges the last couple of days. One major challange has been getting art done by the time we need to shoot. They are mostly all inexperienced hard workers but I fear they don't have enough hands. We lost an hour or so last night waiting for art which is hard to swollow when grip/electric and camera are working so hard to move quickly. Although, I will say-I worked my first feature a couple of years ago as an the on-set dresser and I have a deep appreciation for the art team. They work more hours then most people on set and have an extremely important job. So far, I have been staying mostly on my 50mm, 85mm, and 100mm lenses. I like to use the 50 or 85 on close-ups and 100 if I am really trying to compress the frame with layers of branches, etc. Too bad that is my longest lens. I have been shooting the key at about 2.0 My lenses are all T 2.1 And I am rating 5279 at 400 ASA. One of the challanges has been allowing myself to underexpose areas of the frame. I guess its the "beginner instinct" in me to want to make sure I don't lose anything but I know that dark is not bad. "The Godfather" films prove that. When the moon is my key light I am keeping it 1 to 1 1/2 stops under, while all the time keeping my backlight around a 2.8 or so. My gaffer has several pictures that i hope to post on Sunday our day off. Until then, let me know if you have any questions and I will try and address them. We are shooting nights so I don't really get up until 3 or 4 in the afternoon then we are back at it by 6:30 pre-lighting. Chris. Please send me an email at cole@j-four.com if you are available the next two weeks!

Chris. Actually I don't think they are Chris. However, I am looking for a loader for that last two weeks of the film so let me know if you are interested.

I landed my first feature a couple of months ago, and we start production on Monday the 25th of June. It is a genre picture, straight to DVD...a sci-fi fantasy type dragon movie. It will be interesting. Very small budget, but we are shooting 35mm. My camera package includes: Arri BL-4S Super 35mm 3-perf, Zeiss Standard Speed Lens package: 16mm, 24mm, 32mm, 50mm, 85mm, 100mm. and support... I am shooting night scenes on 5279 and day on 5212. The dragon is entirely CG. Shot on location in Utah, in Alpine, Heber and Provo. We have a small 3-Ton grip package with an even smaller lighting package...my biggest light is a 9 light Maxi Brute... I will try and post some weekly updates, it is a 19-day schedule...an average of 5 pages a day...its going to be crazy! But I am excited to "cut my teeth" on the show. It is a SAG show with some decent actors. Let me know if you have questions about the production...and if you are in Utah and want to come help I know production is still looking for interns!!!